Snapshots
by EldritchSandwich
Summary: Change of Heart Series 14. Milly's inquisitive nature is always getting her in to trouble, even with Tamiya watching her back. But when the two of them stumble on the Gang's secret, they find out that being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be…


"I mean, I know you want to keep the secret as exclusive as possible, but I mean, I think he's already proven himself, and there's really nothing you can do about it now, anyway, I just—"

Jeremie smiled. "Yumi. It's okay. You're right, it'll be good to have a backup to run the supercalculator."

Odd raised his eyes from his breakfast tray. "Are you okay, Einstein?"

Jeremie leaned back into the air behind the plastic bench. "Fine. Why do you ask?"

Odd shrugged. "I don't know. You just seem more mellow than usual."

Sissi smiled as she set down her fork. "That's because he's got a date tomorrow."

Jeremie almost fell backwards over the bench. "How did you…"

"You _still_ talk in your sleep."

Jeremie cleared his throat. "Right."

Ulrich chuckled. "You might want to see a specialist about that, Einstein. Never know what kind of embarrassing situations that could lead to."

Jeremie smiled flatly. "Yeah, thanks. As a matter of fact, Aelita and I _are_ going out tomorrow night."

Odd nodded and sniffed at a piece of sausage on the end of his fork. "So, that makes this your first real date, huh?"

Sissi looked up at Jeremie expectantly, smiling. He fidgeted. "Uh, with Aelita. I mean, I've…it's not like…" Jeremie was pink now. Ulrich grinned. Even though he'd seemed much more assertive since his ill-fated camping trip, he was still the same old Jeremie.

The chuckling at the table died down as Jeremie pulled out his laptop in response to the gentle buzzing sound that meant Aelita was trying to contact him. "Aelita?"

"Jeremie, I felt pulsations in the Glacier region!"

"It's all right, Aelita, we'll be right there."

Without having to speak a word, they were out of their seats, Ulrich's cell phone in hand to contact Yumi, trays left half-filled on the hard plastic cafeteria table.

…

The chuckling at the table died down as Jeremie pulled out his laptop. He looked concerned, and then, without a word, they were out of their seats, trays left half-filled on the hard plastic cafeteria table.

Milly shook her head. "You don't think that's a little strange?"

Tamiya looked up from her eggs. "What?"

Milly sighed exasperatedly. "Tamiya, they just left again, at the drop of a hat. You don't think that's weird?"

Tamiya smiled. "Well, I wouldn't know. I don't pay as much attention to weird stuff as you do."

"You're really not the least bit curious what they're up to?"

Tamiya grinned gingerly. "Listen to you, you sound like Sissi used to."

"Yeah, and then all of a sudden she started hanging out with them. That's just another thing on the list."

Tamiya shook her head and glanced back down at her breakfast. "Hey, we have to focus on tomorrow's newscast. We still need a lead story."

Milly leaned in. "Well, what better lead story than finding out what's up with them?"

"Milly, come on, just let it go. Whatever they're doing, it's none of our business. Besides that, it's probably not allowed, and I don't want to get them in trouble."

"We wouldn't."

"Well, then I don't want to get me in trouble."

Milly slid her tray aside. "You worry too much, Tamiya. Come on."

"Milly, wait. Milly…" She was already out the door. Tamiya shook her head and sprinted to catch up.

When she finally caught her, Milly was standing in the forest, looking down. "Come on, we have to get back to school. We just…" In front of Milly's feet was a manhole, one that had obviously seen plenty of use recently. "What's that doing here?"

Milly grinned. "I don't know, but I saw Odd close it behind him after he went down."

"So they're going into the sewers?"

"We won't know for sure unless we follow them."

'Milly, no.' 'Don't be stupid.' 'Just forget it.' Those all would have been perfectly sensible things to say, if Tamiya wasn't already half way down the ladder. She sighed. That girl was going to get her killed.

When her feet hit the pavement, the smell hit her nose. Tamiya gagged. Milly chuckled. "What's the matter. You've never been in a sewer before?"

Tamiya wrinkled her nose. "I try to avoid them as a rule." She paused to look around. Tunnels seemed to branch off in every direction. "What do we do now?"

Milly smiled. "Follow the tracks." Tamiya looked down. In the thin sheet of slimy residue that covered every surface, there were faint footprints heading straight ahead. As she followed, Tamiya shook her head. Milly might have been a little irresponsible, but at least she was observant.

"Why would there be an access to the sewer so close to the school? Aren't those kinds of things in the streets?"

Milly shrugged. "That _is_ what we're trying to find out, Tamiya."

"Who'd want to hang out down here?"

Milly shook her head. "I don't know." She paused and turned, her eyes wide. "Maybe they're smoking!" Tamiya raised her eyebrows. Milly rolled her eyes and turned back. "Yeah, yeah, I know, just shut up and walk."

…

Milly squinted as she emerged into the sunlight. In front of her was a paved steel bridge, and beyond that was a giant building pressed down against the surface of the river. As she climbed out of the tunnel, Tamiya peeked her head out. "Whoa."

Milly grinned and offered her hand to lift the other girl out of the manhole. "You see, I told you they were hiding something big." For once, Tamiya couldn't think of any reason to argue as she sprinted after Milly to the open door of the giant, empty building. "What is this place?"

Tamiya stepped into the cool, moist shadow of the interior and took in the massive, barren floor below them, with a wide catwalk bordering the entire building. The only distinguishing feature was the scaffold of steel bars that marked the position of an elevator. "It's an old factory. I've been by here a few times, but I never went inside. I heard it was haunted."

Milly rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. That's just a silly story."

The sound that echoed in from the surface of the bridge sent Milly twitching a foot into the air. Tamiya gave her a wry look as they stole across the catwalk to hide behind a pillar. Tamiya stood on the tips of her toes and pressed her nose up against the grimy window as the manhole cover slid back out of place. She gasped as she saw the form emerge. Milly struggled to lift up high enough to see without giving away her position. "What? What is it?"

Tamiya ducked back down. "It's Yumi."

The two girls pressed back against the wall trying to remain invisible, as the teenager jogged through the factory, cell phone in hand. "Jeremie, I'm just now reaching the factory. Nothing strange has happened at the school yet, but as soon as someone gets devirtualized, I think you should send them back to keep an eye on things." Yumi pocketed the phone and grabbed one of the exposed cables hanging from the ceiling, swinging effortlessly down to the ground. Tamiya nudged Milly. The red-head nodded. She'd obviously done this before—and often.

Yumi slammed the call button for the lift and, shaking slightly, a beaten metal box cranked up out of the breach, a segmented door lifting open. Yumi ducked inside and, in an instant, the lift was on its way back down.

"Did you see that? What do you think is going on down there?"

Tamiya shook her head. "I don't know. What was she talking about on her phone? Devirtualized? What's that mean?"

Milly shook her head. "There's only one way to find out."

Tamiya watched as her friend climbed awkwardly down to the factory floor. As her feet hit the ground, she looked up. "Are you coming?"

Tamiya swallowed a mouthful of dry air as she eased her way down the cable. When she reached the floor, Milly was already across the room, next to the call button and the elevator shaft. "Are you ready." Tamiya smoothed out the material of her shirt and gulped again. She nodded.

When the elevator reached them and creaked open, it was empty. Milly breathed a sigh of relief. That was one less thing to worry about. She pressed the down button, and the door clinked shut. The elevator continued downward for a few moments, then stopped. Tamiya glanced around at the narrow space. "Well?"

Milly's eyes were drawn to the alphanumeric keypad that stretched out between the lift buttons. "Uh, I guess we need a password to open the door."

"Password?"

Milly shrugged. Tamiya huffed and collapsed against the back corner of the lift.

Odd winced as he re-entered the Real World. Out of breath, he lurched toward the elevator as Jeremie's voice filtered through the speakers. "Odd, I want you to go back to Kadic. You should keep an eye on things until we can pin down this Tower."

Odd nodded. "Sure thing, Einstein." He pressed the call button for the lift.

Milly shook her head. "All right, if we can't get out here, we can probably just go back up and get out there. That way, no one's the wiser. Right?" Tamiya shrugged. Milly was about to press the button when the lift staggered upward. Milly flinched back in shock. "Wow. Smart elevator."

When the door opened, it took several seconds for everyone to appreciate the situation. Milly and Tamiya gawked at the giant tubes that ringed the small room in front of them, and Odd, still a bit groggy from his devirtualization, wondered what Milly and Tamiya were doing here. Milly smiled. "Uh…hi, Odd."

Odd raised his eyebrows. "Hi."

…

Jeremie swiveled the chair around as the lift door opened. "Odd, I thought I told you to get back to the surface…" Odd stepped forward—Milly and Tamiya peeked out from behind the sides of elevator. "What are they doing here?"

Odd shrugged. "A perfectly reasonable question, if you ask me." He gestured the girls forward, then stepped back onto the lift. "Feel free to ask them. I'm going to go monitor the school."

Tamiya spun around nervously as the lift door closed. Then she looked up. Her breath caught in her throat. The room was huge, far bigger than the one Odd had been in, and the high ceiling swept up into a knot of arched supports and computer cables. Gradually, the glow at the center of the room drew her eyes back down. The giant projection, a million different roads and islands coursing with light, was hypnotic. She had never seen anything like it.

Jeremie cleared his throat—the girls straightened. "You two do know you're trespassing, right?"

Milly shrugged. "So are you."

Jeremie opened his mouth to argue, then shut it again. "Fair enough. Don't touch anything while you're in here, all right?"

Milly stepped toward the holomap, watching as it zoomed in on a tiny region of the vast sea of light. She glanced up. "Okay, Jeremie, level with us. What is this place? What's going on here?"

Jeremie sighed. "It's a giant supercomputer. We use it to travel to an alternate dimension called Lyoko to fight a diabolical computer virus named Xana that's trying to enslave humanity. All right?"

"Okay." Milly nodded, eyes wide. Slowly, she leaned back toward Tamiya. "Way bigger than smoking."

Tamiya shrugged. "Or they're all totally insane…"

"Jeremie, we've been cut off. Where's Yumi?"

Jeremie turned back to the monitor, and Milly and Tamiya jumped at the sudden intrusion of Ulrich's voice through the loudspeakers. Jeremie pecked at the keyboard. "Hold on. I'm checking." Milly inched forward, motioning for Tamiya to follow. From their new positions, they could see the main screen on the weird computer Jeremie was using. Two triangles, one green, one yellow, were being chased by four red dots. They heard a beep, and a picture of Ulrich on the screen began flashing. Milly poked her finger forward. "What's that mean?"

Jeremie brushed her hand away in annoyance. "It means Ulrich just got hurt. He's in Lyoko, trying to stop Xana before he can do damage here in the real world." He turned back to the screen. "Are you okay, Ulrich?"

"Yeah, fine. It was just a graze. How many lifepoints do I have left?"

Jeremie glanced at the bars beneath the picture of Ulrich. "Sixty. Be careful. I'm still having trouble contacting Yumi."

Another beep—a flashing picture of Odd appeared on the screen. "Jeremie, it's me. You better get me some help out here. Xana's taken over some of the cars in the parking lot. They're trying to knock down the buildings!"

"I don't have anyone I can spare! Ulrich and Sissi can't come back until I've found Yumi."

Another beep—Yumi's picture blinked quickly, then disappeared from the screen. Jeremie sighed and closed the call from Odd, returning his attention to the others. "Wherever she was, Yumi just got devirtualized." He pressed a few keys, and the call to Odd came up again. "Odd, I'm sending Yumi as soon as I can."

The lift opened, and a hunched Yumi, breathing hard, stepped through. "Jeremie, what happened? I tried to contact you!" She paused, looking up, to see Milly and Tamiya smiling awkwardly. "What are they doing here?"

"I don't have the answer to either of those questions. Anyway, you have to get back to the school and help Odd contain the attack. Hurry!"

Milly shot Tamiya a sideways glance. Tamiya groaned. Milly rushed forward. "Wait!" Jeremie and Yumi turned to her. "We can help you!"

Jeremie shook his head. "This is serious. We're not going to put our lives in the hands of…"

Milly bristled. "Of what? Of kids? We're all kids here, Jeremie."

Yumi shrugged. "Jeremie, they did help out a lot during the Siege."

Jeremie ran slender fingers through his hair. "All right, fine, but hurry! I haven't been able to call Odd."

Milly and Tamiya jogged to the elevator. As the door slid shut and the lift rushed toward the surface, Tamiya shot Milly a nervous glance. Milly shrugged. She'd wanted excitement, after all.

…

Yumi grabbed Milly's arm and hoisted her out of the manhole. The shorter girl brushed herself off as Yumi helped Tamiya out of the sewer. "Come on, we have to get back to the school. I'll try to find Odd, you two concentrate on getting people out of area. Get them down into the sewer tunnels if you can—there's another passage in the school's boiler room. Do you understand?" The two younger girls nodded. Yumi smiled thinly. "All right. Good luck." In a flash, she was gone, branches rustling in her wake, leaving the two friends alone in the forest clearing.

Tamiya turned to Milly. "What are we doing?"

Milly shrugged and began jogging toward the school. "Like Yumi said, get people to the boiler room and down into the sewers."

Tamiya bristled and started to run after her. "No, I mean…what are we doing? Here? Getting involved in all this?"

"Didn't you hear Jeremie? We're saving the world!"

"They're saving the world, Milly. We're not cut out for stuff like this."

Milly glanced back and slowed her pace a little. "Well, you won't know that for sure unless you give it a try." She turned back and broke into a full run. Tamiya sighed.

When they broke the treeline, Milly skidded to a stop. She could hear the screeching of tires and the crunching of metal and stone in the distance, split by the occasional shriek of panic. Whatever Yumi was doing, she hoped it was working. She motioned for Tamiya to follow her to the sunlit outline of the school.

Tamiya gingerly poked her head around the corner. As she did, a green sedan slid into one of the arches that supported the main school building. Tamiya jerked back as the brick splintered away. "How are we supposed to get inside the building?"

A loud yell answered their questions. When they looked back, Odd was on top of the car, sliding toward the open window as the vehicle shook left and right in an attempt to dislodge him. As he slipped inside and grabbed the steering wheel, the car staggered about, Xana and Odd vying for control. Milly's heart skipped a beat as she ran for the far wall of the school building—Odd was so _cool_.

Tamiya broke from the wall a few seconds after Milly, but overtook her only halfway to the other side. Thus, when the car dumped Odd on the courtyard and sped back toward the building, Milly was the one in its path.

The column between her and the sedan was likely the only thing that saved her life. Tamiya had tried to move, tried to push her out of the way, but she was frozen to the spot—she had to watch as the right side of the car glanced off the retaining column and into her best friend. The car spun out and into the wall of the cafeteria, and seemed to die. Tamiya broke for the courtyard, screaming Milly's name. She sobbed as she dragged her limp friend out of the open and into the cover of the building's main hallway.

_Come on, Tamiya_, she said to herself, _just calm down and think. You have to get help. You have to get Yumi. Or Odd. You can't do this all by yourself._

Milly groaned and Tamiya snapped out of her self-pity. She carefully wrapped her arm under her friend's and started for the stairs. If anyone was still in the building, they were probably still in the dormitories—they'd want to stay as far from the ground as possible. She knew she would.

…

Tamiya pulled herself and Milly up the final stair, and was greeted with the disturbed murmurs of the students who had gathered on the top floor of the dormitories. Mike hobbled over to help take Milly's weight off her shoulder—his own leg hung half-limp as he walked. The pair laid Milly down against the wall, then Mike slid down himself. Tamiya glanced around the room. Most of the students were huddled in doorways, eyes darting around frantically as the rumbling impacts of the cars echoed from below. "How many people are up here?"

Mike shook his head. "Not enough. Someone was walking around the upper floors, he said he didn't think there were more than fifty people around the dorms."

"Have you seen Odd? Or Yumi?"

Mike shrugged. "I've pretty much been staying in one place."

Tamiya began pacing nervously. "We can't just sit here, we need to…"

"To what?"

"I don't know, do something. Help the people who are still out there."

Mike leaned his head back and snorted. "You're crazy. No one's going to survive out there. Our best bet is to just stay put until…"

"Until what? Until we're the only ones left? I'm not just going to sit here and let this happen."

Mike smiled dryly. "You sound like Milly."

Tamiya paused. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Yeah, well look where it got her."

Tamiya wrankled. Shooting Mike a disdainful look, she turned and continued down the hall. He was right, of course. But that didn't make a difference.

"Stop being such a baby, Herb. Everything's going to be fine."

Tamiya almost turned around when she heard Brandy's voice, but that would have meant going back to Mike. Instead, she pressed forward around the corner and emerged to see Brandy trying to shake some sense into her pimply minion. She lingered, just for a moment—how could Brandy really not understand that fear?

The blonde turned and cocked her head. Tamiya froze. "What's the matter, kindergartener, are you scared too?"

Tamiya didn't want to do it. She tried to stop, she knew it couldn't end well, but the first words were already out of her mouth even as she tried to hold them back. "Of course I'm scared, you lamebrain! We're being attacked by possessed homicidal cars! Are you too proud to get that through your thick head, or just too stupid?"

Brandy's lips curled into a snarl. She looked as though she was about to pounce when Tamiya heard a soft voice behind her. "Careful how you answer, Brandy. Either way it doesn't look very good for you."

Brandy snorted and grabbed Herb by the collar. "Come on." As Nicolas trailed off after them, Tamiya turned to the tall shadow looming over her. When she saw the face, she almost cried.

Yumi started a bit as the younger girl jumped up into her arms. "Uh, it's good to see you too, Tamiya." Yumi pulled back to look the short girl in the eyes. "Where's Milly?"

Tamiya explained, tears in her eyes, as she led Yumi back to where Mike sat. When he saw her, he tried to get up, but Yumi waved him off. She bent down and, carefully, wrapped her fingers around Milly's swollen knee. "It's all right; it's broken, but she'll be fine." Seeing the tears welling up in her eyes for a second time, Yumi ushered Tamiya to the stairwell. They sat on the uppermost step, Tamiya staring idly down into brick wall below. Yumi smiled flatly. "What's wrong?"

Tamiya's eyes turned down to her feet. "I…I saw it, Yumi. I saw the car, before it…I would have been able to save her, I should have…but I couldn't move. I tried, I just…" Tamiya's words trailed off into sobs. "She's my best friend, and I'm such a coward I couldn't even…"

Yumi draped her arm around Tamiya's quivering shoulders. "Tamiya…you're not a coward. Being afraid in a frightening situation doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you."

"I'm a baby, just like Brandy's always saying."

"You're not. Knowing what you're afraid of is the only way to grow, Tamiya. You can't beat your fears if you ignore them."

Tamiya shook her head slowly. "I can't face my fears at all. Milly's the strong one, she's the reason we followed you guys to the factory in the first place."

"Everybody can be a hero, Tamiya. The way you stood up to Brandy back there, I think that proves you're not a baby."

"But I'm still not cut out for this. I'm not a hero." Tamiya turned her eyes up to the older girl's. "Not like you."

Yumi almost laughed, then looked down the stairway at the wall. "Heroes aren't heroes because they want to be, Tamiya. They're heroes because they have to be." Yumi's cell phone rang. Unclasping her hand from Tamiya's shoulder, she pulled the red phone from her back pocket. "Odd? No, I understand, I'll be right there." She slipped the phone away as she stood up. "Tamiya, I have to go help Odd. Can you keep everyone here under control?"

Tamiya wiped away her last tear and nodded. Yumi gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before sprinting down the stairs, back to the collapsing ground floor. Tamiya watched her go, then turned back to the milling hallway. Tamiya the hero, she thought. Yeah, right.

…

Mike looked up as Tamiya approached, then glanced at where Yumi had turned down the stairs. "Where'd she go?"

"Odd needed her help." Mike nodded and glanced back down at Milly. "How is she?"

"Well, I'm no doctor, but it doesn't seem like she's in much pain. She should be okay. That is, if we can get out of here."

Tamiya leaned down, face to face with the older boy. "I've been thinking about that. Once they punch through the first floor, this entire building's going to come down around us, no matter where we are. What are we suposed to do then?"

Mike glanced up sideways—he obviously hadn't thought about that. "Pray?"

Tamiya stood up. "We have to get everyone down into the sewer tunnels. It's the only safe place."

"You know, it might just be me, but I haven't seem many manholes in the classrooms here."

"No, there's an entrance in the boiler room."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I just know, all right? Start getting people together—we have to get everyone to go at once."

"Who put you in charge?"

Tamiya was already off down the hallway. "Yumi." Mike shook his head as he watched her go. He was never like that when he was her age.

Brandy was cajoling one of the seventh graders when Tamiya walked up. "Oh, good. I was wondering when Milly's puppy would come back. Here to apoligize for being—"

"Shut up." Tamiya turned away and raised her voice as Brandy sputtered. "Listen up, everyone. This place is going to come crashing down around us any second. There's a secret entrance to the sewers in the boiler room. It won't be safe getting down there, but we'll be a lot better off than if we stay up here. Anybody who doesn't want to be buried under a pile of rubble, follow me."

Tamiya really didn't expect so many people to just stand up—she thought she would have had to ad-lib another rousing speech—but apparently people preferred risking their lives for the promise of safety to risking their lives by just sitting there. Well, people who weren't Brandy. As she walked back toward Mike's end of the hallway, more and more people peeled themselves off from the walls and followed.

Herb lifted himself off the wall and into the open air, until Brandy grabbed the back of his collar. "What exactly do you think you're doing?"

Herb jerked his shirt out of her grip and smiled bitterly. "Just stretching my legs."

Brandy steamed as Nicolas walked off after him. It suddenly occured to her that she was alone in the hallway. "Hey, you two, wait up!"

The crashes were louder this close to the ground, but the front doors of the building seemed to Tamiya to be more or less unmolested. A few panes of glass had slipped free or been broken by flying rubble, but this side of the building seemed relatively quiet. Tamiya motioned for the mob to follow as she dashed across the open floor that led to the maintenance section of the building. She was almost across the linoleum when she heard the shrieks and crunching glass. As the principal's car tried to bash through the crinkling doors, the group stampeded past Tamiya. She was swept along as the mass squeezed down the narrow corridor that opened onto the boiler room and supply closets.

The group tried to surge through the doorway all at once, and the far-too-slow trickle of people caused even more panic. Someone screamed. The principal's sedan had finally caught up with them, leaving a trail of broken support columns in its wake. Tamiya glanced back at Mike, who had Milly hunched over his shoulder. He mouthed something that looked like 'Don't even…'. but she couldn't take time to pay attention.

This would be easier than she thought—the driver-side door had broken free, so she wouldn't have to try any fancy trick with the window like Odd had. The only problem would be staying in. She corrected herself as she dove to the side and hoisted herself into the cabin—the other problem was that she didn't know how to drive.

Somewhere, a knot had untwisted itself, and people were beginning to funnel into the boiler room again. Mike cast a long glance back at where Tamiya was being whipped around by the car, trying desperately to hold onto her position in the driver's seat, before the crowd forced him through the bottleneck. The door at the far side of the room was already open, revealing a staircase framed by bare rock. Mike smiled in disbelief. She was right…

Tamiya rolled the steering wheel to the left as hard as she could. She felt the car trying to work against her, but it was no use—the massive machine lost control and spun back toward the bashed doors. As Tamiya rolled across the floor, head reeling from her forced ejection from the seat, she chanced a look back. Everyone was gone from sight now, and she could only hope that they'd made it down into the tunnels. Her head snapped back to in front of her as the engine of the possessed car revved. It had managed to turn back toward her. As it screeched toward her, she swore she could see something, like an eye, flash across the headlights. As her eyes filled with white light, she had one final thought. Tamiya the hero.

"So, that makes this your first real date, huh?"

"Uh, with Aelita. I mean, I've…it's not like…" They all started laughing.

Milly shook her head. "You're really not the least bit curious what they're up to?"

Tamiya grinned gingerly. "Listen to you, you sound like Sissi used to."

"Yeah, and then all of a sudden she started hanging out with them. That's just another thing on the list."

Tamiya chuckled. "Milly, this is ridiculous. They're just perfectly normal kids. It's not like they're superheroes or something."

"Come on, you have to admt they're a little weird. Always disappearing, running off…and sometimes they even know stuff is going to happen before it does!"

"Milly, I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation. You just think they're cool because they're older. Trust me, they're no more adventurous or mysterious than…than I am."

Milly cast a long look at the table across the cafeteria, then shook her head. "Yeah, you're probably right…"


End file.
